Guitar. Ensemble strand, Proficient level
DISPOSITIONS
Collaboration
 Students learn to observe things about the playing of their ensemble, and how to collaborate to
improve.
 Students learn to follow the directions of a conductor or ensemble leader to provide the best
artistic product.
Flexibility
Goal Setting
 Students are aware of and plan adequately to meet the needs of the class performance schedule.
Inquisitiveness
 Students develop an interest in new music styles and in how to perform them.
Openness and respect for the ideas and work of others
 Students respect one another’s learning styles, pace, musical tastes, and preferences
Responsible risk-taking
Self-Reflection
 Students learn to observe things about their playing, and learn to figure out how to improve.
Self-discipline and Perseverance
 Students understand the rules for the class and the reasons for the rules, and learn to behave
accordingly.
 Students recognize the importance of and work to implement effective, frequent practice.
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 1
CREATING
Imagine
Generate Musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.
Standard: MU:Cr1.1.E.la
Compose and improvise ideas for melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements for specific
purposes that reflect characteristic(s) of music from a variety of historical periods studied in rehearsal.
Enduring Understanding
The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work
emerge from a variety of sources
Essential Question
How do musicians generate creative ideas?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 Closed position pentatonic scales
 Power chords
 Major, minor, and Dominant 7 chords
 Tonality and key
Performing
 Can play closed position pentatonic scales
 Can play power chords
 Can play open position Major, minor, Dominant 7 chords
Context
 History of the Blues
 Other selected guitar styles or genres
Evaluation Criteria
 Accuracy of performance
Creating
 Identify and play a riff or melodic fragment over a given
chord
Aural & notational skills
 Read tablature and chord diagrams
 Hear and identify major and minor chords
Evaluating
 Identify chord and non-chord tones in a melody
Vocabulary
Power chords, major, minor, Dominant 7 chords
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 2
Plan and Make
Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts.
Standard: MU:Cr2.1.E.la
Select and develop draft melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements for specific purposes that
demonstrate understanding of characteristic(s) of music from a variety of historical periods studied in
rehearsal.
Enduring Understanding
Musicians’ creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and
expressive intent.
Essential Question
How do musicians make creative decisions?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 12-bar blues and simple (e.g., AABA) forms
Performing
 Play required chords in time without disrupting beat of
music
Context
Creating
 Improvise a melody over a simple 3-chord (e.g., blues)
progression
Evaluation Criteria
Aural & notational skills
Evaluating
Vocabulary
Standard: MU:Cr2.1.E.lb
Preserve draft compositions and improvisations through standard notation and audio recording.
.
Enduring Understanding
Musicians’ creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and
expressive intent.
Essential Question
How do musicians make creative decisions?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
 Ability to use simple recording equipment to capture
performances
Context
 Use of notation or aural tradition in blues and other popular
styles
Evaluation Criteria
 Accuracy of notation
Knowledge and Skills
Creating
Aural & notational skills
 Ability to notate simple chord progressions
Ensemble Proficient
page 3

Ability to notate simple melodies
Evaluating
Vocabulary
Evaluate and Refine
Evaluate and refine selected musical ideas to create musical work that meets appropriate criteria.
Standard: MU:Cr3.1.E.la
Evaluate and refine draft melodies, rhythmic passages, arrangements, and improvisations based on
established criteria, including the extent to which they address identified purposes.
Enduring Understanding
Musicians evaluate and refine their work through openness to new ideas,
persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.
Essential Question
How do musicians improve the quality of their creative work?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
 Ability to render created music
Context
 Values applied to music in different cultural contexts or in
the context of the class
Creating
Aural & notational skills
Evaluation Criteria
 Accuracy and expressiveness
Evaluating
 Ability to form and express a considered judgment based
on accuracy and expressiveness
Vocabulary
Present
Share creative musical work that conveys intent, demonstrates craftsmanship, and exhibits originality.
Standard: MU:Cr3.2.E.lb
Share personally-developed melodies, rhythmic passages, and arrangements – individually or as an
ensemble – that address identified purposes.
Enduring Understanding
Musicians’ presentation of creative work is the culmination of a process
of creation and communication
Essential Question
When is creative work ready to share?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 Blues progression
Performing
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 4
Context
 History and current contexts for performance of blues and
other popular styles
Creating
 Improvise a melody, using pentatonic scale, over a threechord (e.g., blues) progression
Aural & notational skills
Evaluation Criteria
 Stylistically appropriate sense of rhythm, tonality.
Evaluating
 Ability to evaluate appropriateness of rhythm, tonality.
Vocabulary
PERFORMING
Select
Select varied musical works to present based on interest, knowledge, technical skill, and context.
Standard: MU:Pr4.1.E.la
Explain the criteria used to select a varied repertoire to study based on an understanding of theoretical and
structural characteristics of the music, the technical skill of the individual or ensemble, and the purpose or
context of the performance.
Enduring Understanding
Performers’ interest in and knowledge of musical works, understanding
of their own technical skill, and the context for a performance influence
the selection of repertoire.
Essential Question
How do performers select repertoire?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 4/4, ¾, 2/4, cut time meters
 12-bar blues and simple forms such as AABA
Performing
 Tuning the guitar (with or without technology)
 Ability to replace a string
 Ability to care for the guitar
Context
 Levels of difficulty in guitar performance
Evaluation Criteria
 Accuracy of performance
Creating
Aural & notational skills
 Read standard notation up to the 4th fret on all 6 strings
 Read tablature and chord diagrams
 Apply a counting system to written notation,a nd be able
to recognize the difference aurally between duple and
triple meter.
Vocabulary
Analyze
Analyze the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance.
Standard: MU:Pr4.2.E.la
Demonstrate, using music reading skills where appropriate, how compositional devices employed and
theoretical and structural aspects of musical works impact and inform prepared or improvised performances.
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 5
Enduring Understanding
Analyzing creators’ context and how they manipulate elements of music
provides insight into their intent and informs performance.
Essential Question
How does understanding the structure and context of musical works
inform performance?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 Compound vs Simple meter
 Tonality and Key
 Difference major and minor chords
 Notation for formal elements including repeats, endings,
etc.
Performing
 Play swing vs straight rhythms
Creating
Aural & notational skills
 Able to play with fluency G major scale
 Ability to hear and identify major and minor chords
Context
Evaluation Criteria
 Choice and execution of appropriate pulse, tempo, and
dynamics
Vocabulary
Tempo, moderato, presto, largo
Interpret
Develop personal interpretations that consider creators’ intent.
Standard: MU:Pr4.3.E.la
Demonstrate an understanding of context in a varied repertoire of music through prepared and improvised
performances.
Enduring Understanding
Performers make interpretive decisions based on their understanding of
context and expressive intent.
Essential Question
How do performers interpret musical works?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
 Finger-style sound production to include rest stroke, free
stroke, and rudimentary strumming
 Pick-style sound production to include down and alternate
picking and strumming patterns
 Control of tone color (where on string to play, rest stroke
or free stroke)
 Proper seated position, proper guitar support, and proper
use of the right and left hands.
Context
 Appropriateness of finger- or pick-style to given literature
Evaluation Criteria
 Dynamics, tone color
Creating
Aural & notational skills
Vocabulary
Sul ponticello, sul tasto, apoyando, tirando
Rehearse, Evaluate, Refine
Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others.
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 6
Standard: MU:Pr5.3.E.la
Develop strategies to address expressive challenges in a varied repertoire of music, and evaluate their
success using feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to refine performances.
Enduring Understanding
To express their musical ideas, musicians analyze, evaluate, and refine
their performance over time through openness to new ideas, persistence,
and the application of appropriate criteria.
Essential Question
How do musicians improve the quality of their performance?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
 Manipulations of tempo (accelerando, ritardando)
Performing
 Listening for ensemble (following a director or chamber
music skills)
 Ability to perform solo and duets, in addition to in
ensemble.
 Control of rushing, dragging
 Mastery of basic rhythms to include the note values of
whole, half, quarter, beat groups of eighth notes, and
dotted quarter-eighth combinations
 Able to play all open position chords (Major, Minor, and
dominant 7th) using the proper bass note for each.
Context
Evaluation Criteria
 Sense of ensemble
Creating
Aural & notational skills
Vocabulary
Accelerando, ritardando
.
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 7
Present
Perform expressively, with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context.
Standard: MU:Pr6.1.E.la
Demonstrate attention to technical accuracy and expressive qualities in prepared and improvised
performances of a varied repertoire of music representing diverse cultures, styles, and genres.
.
Enduring Understanding
Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time,
place, and cultures. The context and how a work is presented influence
the audience response.
Essential Question
When is a performance judged ready to present? How do context and
the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience
response?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
 Ability to maintain a sense of ensemble
 Perform a solo as well as three ensemble pieces
Context
 Performance etiquette
Creating
 Create a solo over a progression played by the ensemble
Evaluation Criteria
Aural & notational skills
Vocabulary
Standard: MU:Pr6.1.E.lb
.
Demonstrate an understanding of expressive intent by connecting with an audience through prepared and
improvised performances
Enduring Understanding
Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time,
place, and cultures. The context and how a work is presented influence
the audience response.
Essential Question
When is a performance judged ready to present? How do context and
the manner in which musical work is presented influence audience
response?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
Context
Creating
Evaluation Criteria
Aural & notational skills
 Ability to objectively judge personal and ensemble
accuracy and expressivity
Vocabulary
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 8
RESPONDING
Select
Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context.
Standard: MU:Re7.1.E.la
Apply criteria to select music for specified purposes, supporting choices by citing characteristics found in the
music and connections to interest, purpose, and context.
Enduring Understanding
Individuals' selection of musical works is influenced by their interests,
experiences, understandings, and purposes.
Essential Question
How do individuals choose music to experience?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
Context
 Where to find performances online
 The parts of the guitar, the difference between different
styles of guitar construction, the application of each
instrument to various styles (including knowledge of
electric guitars and amplifiers).
Creating
Aural & notational skills
 Ability to read a guitar part to evaluate level of difficulty
Evaluation Criteria
Vocabulary
Analyze
Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response.
Standard: MU:Re7.2.E.la
Explain how the analysis of passages and understanding the way the elements of music are manipulated
inform the response to music.
Enduring Understanding
Response to music is informed by analyzing context (social, cultural, and
historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of
music.
Essential Question
How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a
response?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
Context
Creating
Evaluation Criteria
 Awareness of at least four recognized guitarists from
different styles
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
Aural & notational skills
 Ability to recognize the performing of four different styles of
guitar playing.
page 9
Vocabulary
Interpret
Support an interpretation of a musical work tht reflects the creators’/performers’ expressive intent.
Standard MU:Re9.1.E.la
Explain and support interpretations of the expressive intent and meaning of musical works, citing as evidence
the treatment of the elements of music, contexts, (when appropriate) the setting of the text, and personal
research
Enduring Understanding
Through their use of elements and structures of music, creators and
performers provide clues to their expressive intent.
Essential Question
How do we discern the musical creators’ and performers’ expressive
intent?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
Context
Creating
Aural & notational skills
Evaluation Criteria
Vocabulary
Evaluate
Support personal Evaluation Criteria of musical works and performance(s) based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.
Standard: MU:Re9.1.E.la .
Evaluate works and performances based on personally- or collaboratively-developed criteria, including
analysis of the structure and context.
Enduring Understanding
The personal Evaluation Criteria of musical work(s) and performance(s)
is informed by analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.
Essential Question
How do we judge the quality of musical work(s) and performance(s)?
Knowledge:
Skills:
Structure
Performing
Context
Creating
Evaluation Criteria
Aural & notational skills
 Ability to objectively judge accuracy and expressivity in a
performance
Vocabulary
Knowledge and Skills
Ensemble Proficient
page 10